As we close one week and begin the next, we prepare to do likewise with the month. Tomorrow, we have one extra day to call February, but in this place, the air already speaks in April’s voice. The air is warm, if the wind sharp, and the clouds hint at the promise of rain, although they persist in holding it tantalizingly out of reach. The earth has now thawed completely, inches of mud well on their way to drying out, and our own thoughts have turned to the planting season.
It’s early days, of course; there will still be snow, and much more of it, before winter looses its grip entirely. But climate change has brought the warmth sooner than usual, and we must recalibrate accordingly. In the meantime, the sun and the softer air have ushered in a return to the feel of the this place, the one with which most people are familiar: spirits and shades of sun and sky, of the colors of the desert as the song of the ancients.
As we close out a week that has explored themes of inherent spirits, of allowing them to speak for themselves, it’s fitting to begin the coming week with Wings’s latest, a work that does exactly that. From its description in the Bracelets Gallery here on the site:
Water and Sky Coil Bracelet
Wings pulls two elements into a colorful vortex with this coral bracelet in fiercely traditional substances and shades. Ancient spirits of the waters join with the Skystone, itself a product of the influences of earth and fire, to create a spiraling hoop that evokes the powers of the desert Southwest. Lengths of chunky little nuggets of spiderweb turquoise, sky blue with just a hint of green, are flanked by green turquoise barrel beads. Each segment is separated by matched lengths of softly apricot-hued melon-shell heishi, each centered by a single old barrel bead of blood-red branch coral. A single coral bead anchors the coil at either end. Joint design by Wings and Aji.
Stainless steel; turquoise; melon-shell heishi; branch coral
$225 + shipping, handling, and insurance
Of all of the bracelets in Wings’s new collection of coils, this one is, perhaps, his personal favorite. He loves the colors and the combination of materials, a throwback to tradition, to forms of adornment from his childhood, and to times much earlier yet. The combination of chunky, only barely polished nuggets of turquoise paired with the iconic Pueblo beadwork form that is heishi, all accented with traditional deep red coral . . . it’s the colors of this place, of warm earth and bright sky, of pale dawns and fiery sunsets, of sandy clay and blue waters, all brought together in one repeating, endlessly spiraling hoop.
It’s a perfect image for this season much of the rest of the world calls Lent: a reminder that we are soon to leave behind winter’s privations and enter a new season of abundance. Here, we will do that in the old way, honoring the spirits of water and sky as we go.
~ Aji
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2016; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owners.
